The private equity giant said its fourth-quarter economic net income fell 68% year-on-year to $225.5 million. Including charges excluded under that measure, the firm's profit actually fell 74% to $46.1 million.

KKR blamed sharply lower income from its p.e. funds and lower appreciation from the same. But its fee-based earnings actually rose 22.6% to $116.6 million.

"We had a very strong quarter to finish the year, and overall had a strong year," Scott Nuttall, KKR's head of global capital markets and asset management, said.